The Fox and the Child

Star Review

At the heart of The Fox and the Child is a simple premise: a young girl is beguiled by a fox and enters into its forest world, but this allows the film to carry the textures and shapes, colours and sounds of nature at its heart. I am pretty sure that Walt Disney would have loved this film had he seen it during production on Bambi.

French philosopher Gaston Bachelard once described the woods as “the limitless world”. This sense of opportunity for heart and mind runs like a river through the film, which fulfils all the expected tasks of a story that plunges a child into the mystery, allure and menace of the wilderness. Arguably, the film’s most potent sequence is a night-time encounter between child and forest that includes an especially beautiful moment when the child sights a mighty forest denizen.

Lyrical and delicate, the film’s fairy tale aspirations are immediate, and it sits well alongside Pan’s Labyrinth, Princess Mononoke and Seachd: The Inaccesible Pinnacle. This is a mesmering and restorative film.

James Clarke on 1st November 2008

View all 7 of James Clarke’s reviews

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Film Description

One autumn morning, a little girl catches sight of a fox at the bend on a path. She forgets all fear and dares to go up to him, and for an instant, the barriers that separate the child and the animal disappear. So begins an amazing friendship. Thanks to the fox, the little girl discovers a wild and secret environment, and experiences an adventure which will change her life and her vision. Part nature documentary, part fairy tale, this is a simple, lovely documentary fiction from the director of March of the Penguins.

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Film Details

Cast

Kate Winslet, Noel-Bruneau, Bertille

Technical Details